當(dāng)馬云的美國(guó)夢(mèng)遇到“中國(guó)優(yōu)先”

Jack Ma’s American dream has woken up to a bitter reality. Alibaba’s retiring founder rescinded a promise to create 1 million jobs in the United States. He blamed tariff tensions between the United States and China, but his $420 billion company has not given foreigners a level playing field on his international e-commerce site. Like any exporter, Mr. Ma’s public championing of free trade blends enlightenment with self-interest.

馬云的美國(guó)夢(mèng)遭遇苦澀的現(xiàn)實(shí)。這位阿里巴巴即將退休的創(chuàng)始人收回了在美國(guó)創(chuàng)造100萬(wàn)個(gè)工作崗位的承諾。他將原因歸咎為美中之間緊張的貿(mào)易關(guān)系，但他價(jià)值4200億美元的公司從未在其國(guó)際電商網(wǎng)站上給予過(guò)外國(guó)人一個(gè)公平的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)環(huán)境。與任何出口商一樣，馬云對(duì)自由貿(mào)易的公開支持，將啟蒙與私利混雜在一起。

Alibaba.com was originally built to connect small Chinese wholesale manufacturers to overseas buyers. As domestic consumption boomed, however, the export operation was eclipsed by Taobao, Alibaba’s eBay-like marketplace, and the complementary Tmall, which hosts stores for bigger retailers. When Mr. Ma met Donald Trump in January 2017 before his inauguration, the Alibaba chairman vowed that 1 million small American businesses would gain access over five years and lead to a similar number of jobs, helping rebalance trade in the process.

阿里巴巴網(wǎng)站原本意在將中國(guó)的小型批發(fā)制造商與海外買家聯(lián)系起來(lái)。然而，隨著國(guó)內(nèi)消費(fèi)增長(zhǎng)，出口業(yè)務(wù)被淘寶和作為補(bǔ)充的天貓所超越。淘寶是阿里巴巴與eBay類似的市場(chǎng)，天貓則是較大零售商開設(shè)商店的平臺(tái)。當(dāng)馬云于2017年1月在特朗普宣誓就職前與之見(jiàn)面時(shí)，阿里巴巴的這位董事長(zhǎng)誓言在未來(lái)5年里，有100萬(wàn)美國(guó)小企業(yè)業(yè)主能進(jìn)入這個(gè)平臺(tái)，并且?guī)?lái)類似數(shù)量的就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)，在這個(gè)過(guò)程中還能幫助平衡貿(mào)易。

Most of those smaller merchants would have set up shop on Tmall Global. Theoretically, this subsite provides an easier channel to sell directly to Chinese customers, without the hassle and expense of creating an onshore entity, as required by Tmall. It attracted Costco, Gerber and most recently U.S. grocery chain Kroger, which began peddling a modest line of vitamins and nuts in August.

這些小企業(yè)主中的大多數(shù)都可以在天貓國(guó)際上開設(shè)店鋪。理論上來(lái)說(shuō)，天貓國(guó)際這個(gè)子網(wǎng)站能為他們提供一個(gè)直接向中國(guó)顧客銷售商品更為便利的渠道，而不需要像天貓要求的那樣費(fèi)錢費(fèi)力地在國(guó)內(nèi)開設(shè)實(shí)體。這樣的服務(wù)吸引了好市多(Costco)、嘉寶(Gerber)，最為近期的還有美國(guó)連鎖雜貨店克羅格(Kroger)，后者八月開始售賣維他命和堅(jiān)果。

The portal hosts around 18,000 vendors, so 1 million more would have been impressive. Since shopkeepers pay for the privilege of a storefront, Alibaba’s fees were more likely to rise than sales or jobs.

這個(gè)門戶有著1.8萬(wàn)銷售商，因此，再增加100萬(wàn)會(huì)很引人矚目。由于賣家為了獲得店鋪需要付錢，阿里巴巴的費(fèi)用比銷售額或工作機(jī)會(huì)增加的可能性大。

The company does not break out specific sales figures for Tmall Global, describing it as a “testing ground.” While Tmall.com is the fourth most-visited website in China, Tmall.hk, the domain for Tmall Global, ranks 357th, according to Alexa data. In essence, it’s a smaller shopping center located far from where the Chinese action is. Why isn’t exactly clear, but domestic vendors on Taobao might not be so receptive to foreign competition.

阿里巴巴沒(méi)有公布天貓國(guó)際的具體銷售數(shù)字，而且將其稱為“試驗(yàn)場(chǎng)”。根據(jù)Alexa的數(shù)據(jù)，盡管Tmall.com是中國(guó)訪問(wèn)量第四大的網(wǎng)站，天貓國(guó)際的域名Tmall.hk訪問(wèn)排名僅為第357位。本質(zhì)上來(lái)說(shuō)，它是一個(gè)規(guī)模不大、冷清的購(gòu)物中心。為何如此?原因不清楚，但淘寶上的國(guó)內(nèi)銷售商或許不會(huì)欣然接納來(lái)自外國(guó)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。

Even the mainstream Tmall has lost some foreign interest of late. Some Western companies have complained about the cost, others of the grey marketeers reselling their brands — or counterfeits — next door at Taobao.

即使是主流的天貓，外國(guó)公司近來(lái)也失去了興趣。一些西方公司抱怨過(guò)成本問(wèn)題，其他公司也投訴過(guò)灰市賣家就在旁邊的淘寶上轉(zhuǎn)售他們品牌的商品，或是假冒品。

Alibaba has gotten better at helping Chinese merchants sell overseas. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, but it’s hardly a solution to imbalanced trade.

阿里巴巴在幫助中國(guó)賣家向海外銷售商品方面做得更好。這無(wú)可厚非，但它絕非平衡貿(mào)易的解決方案。